I do this on the treadmill at least once a week. What I like to do is jog for a little bit, then hop onto the rails and turn the speed up quite high (at least for me) and sprint for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Hop off, lower the speed, and then jog for several minutes until my heartrate/breathing comes down. Then I repeat. Usually I'll do this for 30 minutes (something like 5 sprints).

What I like about it is you can go very fast for a minute, and it feels very gratifying to go all out like that for that time. My best is 10.5MPH for a minute, which for me is hauling.

On the internet I think they call that "burst training" but I'm not sure.

So I have gone with Hill Sprints for my version of this. I find a steep hill that I can sprint up and then walk back down. I have been able to maintain this for about 20 minutes so far, and man does it burn. Phew!

PS- 3 hours round trip commute?! That is rough. I feel for you on that. Mine is about an hour round trip (50 miles total each day), and I have grown very tired of that. Any chance you can work from home 1 day or so a week?

I'm not too regimented in what I do, I guess. My sub-division where we live is basically a rectangle, measuring a little less than a mile if you run the whole "track". What I usually would do in a speed interval day is warm up with one time around, and then sprint the long part of the "track", which measures about 0.3 miles, with a slower jog around the "short line" of the rectangle, 0.2 miles. I'll do that 4 times, and then do a slower cool down. About 4 miles total.

I also do a longer interval every once in a while, where I'll do a warm up mile, and then push the next mile as fast as I can. Slower mile, then another fast mile. Then a slow down. 5 miles or so total.

Nothing too exact- I guess it's kind of like fartlek-style speed work, for lack of a better term. I like it, and it seems to help as far as keeping the weekday runs interesting and keeping me healthy. Yesterday I did the second type I described, and timed my fast mile at about 7 minutes, 50 seconds, which is fast for me. I've shaved my 5k chip-timed race "PR" to well under 29 minutes, which I also like!

Like I said, pretty loose in terms of regimented workouts, but I've been enjoying it. Thoughts/input/constructive criticism always welcomed! Good luck!

I am back to doing HIIT. when I'm at the gym I use a treadmill, I do HIIT for 32 min: 2 min @ 3.2 then 1 min for 6.4 when I'm at the high school track I sprint the straights and recover walk the ends, I do this 10 times (about 23 min).

My metabolism has been in high gear the last two weeks.

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I've done quite a bit of HIIT, and seen rapid gains in strength and stamina, as well as good results on the scale.

I did a 12-week cycle as follows: Part 1: 3 weeks HIIT beginner level, 5 days per week. (Beginner level was still very hard) Part 2: 3 weeks HIIT intermediate level, 5 days per week. Part 3: 2 weeks of cardio, 5 days per week Part 4: 4 weeks HIIT advanced level, 5 days per week.

Gains: Lost about 8 lbs. Lost several inches. Found those curvy figure-8 lines at the sides of my abs. Can do a "bicep curl" using my middle son (135 lbs) as a barbell. Before the HIIT, I wasn't able to lift him at all. Can cycle for a couple of hours and take on all the big hills in my very hilly neighbourhood without down-shifting on my bicycle.

I highly recommend it. If you can fit in more than a couple sessions a week, better still.

First of all, congrats on the new job. I know the job hunt process can be extremely stressfull. I hope it goes well.

Thanks a lot for finding that article. It definitely held some good information. I actually modified a bit how I am going to approach this, because I am a tennis player and my singles partner is available 2-3 days a week generally. So I will be playing with him, strength training on other days as long as they aren't consecutive, and HIIT to fill in those days where I can't do strength work due to the consecutive days issue.

I am entering stage two of my fitness plan, which means cutting down the cardio for 3 days of strength training a week. I am thinking about making my off days higher intensity to make it up. Has anyone tried this and what experiences have you had?

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